Jungle Fury: The Fourth Guardian
by Pixiescale1185
Summary: For thirteen years, Athena Katrina Winters has trained at the Pai Zhuq academy, in hopes that she will one day fulfil her dreams of becoming a sacred guardian. Yet, when she is given the chance to prove her loyalty and worth to the Pai Zhuq masters, trouble rears its head and a great evil is unleashed upon the world as an old friend becomes a new enemy.


Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers or anything related to the season of Jungle Fury. I do however own Athena Winters and everything about her, her family and history.

We are the vision in your dreams,

We do not exist, yet we have been here since the beginning.

We are Pai Zhuq, Order of the Claw.

We train only the best, both physically and mentally,

Swearing them to secrecy

All masters of their skills, never knowing their true purpose

Until now

Jungle Fury: The Fourth Guardian

Chapter 1-Never Judge a Book by its Cover.

Six students of the Pai Zhuq Academy sat outside in silent meditation for the last 24 hours waiting for something. Athena sat on the far end mentally preparing for what might come next. A gong sounded announcing the presence of Master Mao and the end of that part of the test and the six students rose

"Theo, did my butt get up with me? I can't tell I'm numb." The girl on the other end said as they bowed to Master Mao.

"You are the six finalist, I am looking for three." With that Master Mao clapped his hands and the six teens paired off.

Theo was against Amber, Lily against Justin and Athena was paired with Jarrod. They bowed to their opponent before taking their individual stances based on their animal spirits.

"Begin" called Master Mao.

Athena aimed a kick at Jarrod but he blocked and knocked it aside while taking a swipe at her but she twisted her body slightly avoiding it. She turned and tried to aim a blow on his chest but again he blocked it. The pair continued to spar and in the background she heard two roars as Theo and Lily defeated their opponents leaving just her and Jarrod. She frowned slightly and began to watch Jarrod even closer looking for an opening or a way to catch him off guard, but she could not find one so she started to feint a weakness and Jarrod fell for it moving in for an attack but she turned as he aimed his kick and swiped his foot from under him. She moved her hands summoning her spirit and was surrounded by a silver mist before her spirit took form and pinned Jarrod to the ground. Once her spirit had faded she offered him a hand up but he knocked it aside.

"Athena, Theo, Lily, join us in the great hall this evening," instructed Master Mao.

She frowned before turning and heading towards where some Cubs were standing with towels and water. She was reaching for a cup when she sensed someone behind her but before she could turn around the person had pushed her to the ground. She turned to see Jarrod standing over her and he smirked before turning his anger towards one of the cubs.

"Where is my towel? Go, get me a towel. Move it! "That is a direct order from a senior student," shouted Jarrod.

Athena pushed herself up and laid her hand on Jarrod's shoulder.

"Hey Jarrod leave him alone, don't take your annoyance of losing to me out on that poor Cub. If you have a problem deal with it, don't take it out on an innocent person."

Jarrod turned shooting her a look of hatred and knocked her to the ground he stood over at her snickering when she heard someone shout out.

"Kit, look out."

The cub ran over to her and knelt down beside her before looking up at Jarrod who just laughed.

"Oh! Is little Cub going to do something?" he Jeered.

The cub stared at Jarrod before he roared leaning closer to Jarrod and Athena saw the image of a white tiger appear as he growled and the force of the growl knocked Jarrod backwards.

"What did I just do?" the cub whispered looking at his hands. He looked back up at Jarrod "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened." he tried to explain.

Jarrod moved closer but Master Mao had been watching and he clapped his hands and Jarrod stopped in his tracks and bowed to Master Mao.

Later that evening Lily, Theo, Athena and the cub from earlier where sat outside the hall waiting for Master Mao to arrive and Lily and Theo were discussing the presence of the cub. Athena left them to it and walked over to where the cub was sitting. He noticed her and flicked a glance at her before lowering his head.

"Sorry am I in your way?" he asked.

"No, it is ok. I just wanted to thank you for earlier, protecting me from Jarrod. I also wanted to ask what you had called me. It sounded like you said Kit but only my father and..." she trailed off staring at him more closely.

~~Flashback~~

_She inhaled sharply as she saw herself and a young boy playing on the grass of her old house here in oceans bluff before she had moved to Spain. They we replaying hide and seek and she was hidden in the bushes as the boy called to her. "Kit, where are you?" She laughed as she softly called his name teasing him as to her hiding place. "Ca-sey," she called in a singsong voice._

~~Flashback~~

"Casey?" she questioned softly. "Wait a sec...I know you; you're Casey, Casey Rhodes. We were friends when I lived in Ocean's Bluff before I..."

"...before you moved to Spain." He finished now looking up at her with a smile.

Before they could talk anymore Master Mao arrived and led them into a hidden room underneath the Academy.

"This is so cool." breathed Lily. "Where are we?"

!it is called the Forbidden Room," explained Master Mao.

"Forbidden? That does not sound good," said Casey.

"Jarrod has been dismissed, in your hearts you know why," said Master Mao as Lily and Theo glanced over at Casey who lowered his head slightly.

"Casey, you have the heart to stand up for others and have the potential to be a Tiger Master. I have decided to choose you as well as Athena, Lily and Theo."

Casey gasped in shock and the others looked over at him and Athena smiled.

"Listen closely, over 10,000 years ago, there was a great Evil named Dai Shi. He believed that animals should rule the planet and humans were to be erased. Brave warriors channelled their animal spirits and after a great battle they were able to capture the Dai Shi inside this box." He turned and was carrying a stone box. He thrust his left hand forward causing his sleeve to fall revealing a mark on his inner arm.

"The Phi Zhuq, Order of the Claw was formed to train students in Kung Fu and to serve as protectors, if the Dai Shi were ever to escape. You four have been selected to take on that task." Master Mao finished.

"Yeah, well that evil hasn't escaped, so all's good and look, I've just been here a week and there must be someone better who can..."

Jarrod enter the room and interrupted him.

"I've spent 10 years in training! You just can't kick me out for no reason!" he shouted.

"Agreed, but I have a reason." Said Master Mao

He turned and was about to set the box on the slab behind him when Jarrod attacked him from behind. Master Mao turned and blocked Jarrod attacks with his free hand. Jarrod tried to grab for the box but Master Mao turned away and knocked him back slightly. The four teens stood in shock unsure how to react as Jarrod continued to fight Master Mao. Athena gasped as Master Mao Kicked Jarrod and used the force of the kick to flip backwards and continued to block Jarrod's attacks before using two fingers he knocked Jarrod back.

"Now Go," he ordered.

"Yes," Jarrod hissed as he bowed and turned to leave Master Mao turned back to return the box on the slab when Jarrod stopped and turned summoning his animal spirit which attacked Master Mao knocking him to the ground and the box flew out of his hands.

"NO!" cried Lily and Athena as they watched the box roll and the clasp open as the box came to a stop and the lid opened and a cloud of dust drifted out of the box.

The five teens sighed in relief as for a moment nothing happened, and then the room exploded with sound as an orange fiery mist flew out of the box knocking all of them into different corners of the room.

"At last!" called a voice from in the mist. "And now, my old friend, I have thought of no one else for centuries, but before I destroy you, you will be a witness to my destruction of those dear to you."

"Who's he talking about?" asked Theo.

"That'd be us!" said Lily nervously.

The four protectors rose to their feet and moved together ready to try to fight off Dai Shi.

"NO!" shouted Master Mao as he start to head toward the group of teens.

"Yes Mao," said the spirit and it grabbed Master Mao and lifted him into the air.

It squeezed him and there was a loud noise before Master Mao was thrown against the stone slab and lay gasping for breath.

"Mao is defeated, you are not worth my time," said the voice.

It then flew towards them and the group scattered as it flew past them and out the door. The four teens looked after the fleeing spirit before turning to where Master Mao was laying.

"Master," cried Theo.

"My time in this form has ended. Shed no tears, there are important things to do. The Evil that is Dai Shi will return to where he was captured. You must destroy him." Master Mao paused and reached into his robe removing a sealed envelope and handed it to Theo. "Go to this address in Ocean's Bluff, there you will meet your new master."

"We don't want a new Master," Lily said tearfully. Athena laid a hand on her shoulder in comfort.

Although she did not show it she was sad to hear this as well. She learned quickly to hide her true feelings and to never get too attached to people because either they left her or she had to leave them.

"Remember the first rule I told you, Don't be attached to the Master, but to the lesson. Now go." Master Mao said.

"Wait, I'm not your guy. I can't destroy evil; I haven't even mastered handing out towels." argued Casey.

"Listen to me, all of you. Your four are the world only chance," and with that Master Mao faded into dust.

"Master Mao," Whispered Athena.

_Later that day_

"A Pizza Parlour? This can't be the place." said Theo.

The four teens enter the pizza parlour and looked around the room. It was a bustling place, with upbeat music playing softly. The aroma of tomatoes, Italian seasons and pungent Basil filled the air and the room was pleasantly warm from the heat of the open fire ovens that were built into the far stone wall. There were loads of people inside and they started to scan the room for their master but they had no idea what or who they were looking for. Theo looked behind Lily and spotted an elderly man. He tapped Lily and pointed in the man's direction.

"That must be him."

The four of them walked over to the man and bowed. The man looked up and nodded, they took that as a sign of acknowledgement.

"We're here, I'm Theo, this is Lily, Athena and this is..." he paused as he pointed to Casey. "This is someone who is in way over his head." Theo finished.

Athena nudged Theo. "Don't be mean, Master Mao chose him for a reason." She whispered.

"We're from the Phi Zhuq School. We are ready to take on evil and defeat it. You have our total obedience. We're eager to learn everything you have to teach us, Master." said Lily enthusiastically.

"Yes treat us to your words of wisdom," finished Theo with a bow. Lily and Casey followed suit.

The man looked them over for a moment then looked beyond them and raised a hand.

"Check please," he called.

Athena snickered softly. "Ok wrong guy," she said.

They turned and began to look around again when there was an explosion from the kitchen and a younger man stumbled out. His clothes were covered in flour and other toppings and he had the doughy pizza base covering most of his face.

"Whoa, Intense." The guy said as the pulled the bits of dough off his face. "so much for my Mt. Kilimanjaro pizza experiment. He set the uncooked dough on the counter next to him and then he noticed the kids standing in front of him.

"Whoa, new customers, Welcome to Jungle Karma Pizza, the names' RJ." He said as he handed them menus. Lily, Athena and Casey took them but Theo shook his head.

"No, no, no. we're not customers."

We're looking for...our Master," Lily finished with a whisper.

"Aren't we all?" teased RJ

"I say we go," said Theo and he headed to the door.

Lily, Casey and Athena stared after him before looking down at the menus in their hands.

"I'm hungry," said Casey.

"Me too." agreed the girls.

Theo paused and turned around as RJ led them to a table and they sat down and Theo reluctantly came to join them. Athena smiled and they debated for a while on what kind of pizza to order each person had different ideas when RJ settled the problem by bring out a pizza with different toppings to suit each person.

"So how's the pizza?" RJ asked when the teens had almost finished.

"Yeah, yeah it is amazing, but that's not why we came here." Theo said flicking a look to the others.

"Right, you are looking for your master. If you're supposed to meet him here then I suggest you wait, you can work here until he shows up." Said RJ

"Work here? No, No. we don't work for anyone, right guys?" Theo asked.

"Okay" said RJ as he raised his hands and backed off leaving them to talk.

"Theo, we are in the real world now, there are things to get, things to have. We _need money_ to do that. Now I am not going to spend another day in these pyjamas," said Athena sharply.

"OK fine." Theo sighed. "I'll be a manger or something reasonable, but _ONLY_ until out master arrives not a day more."

Just then they could hear some kind of commotion outside and people started screaming. Athena flicked a look at RJ she could tell there was something more to him then he was letting on. He saw her watching him and he looked away and started looking around the room avoiding her gaze. She then flicker the others a look and Theo dropped the slice of pizza he had been holding and pushed back form the table.

"Come on guys we better check this out." Said Lily

"Um, yeah, well maybe I should just stay here until I get my bearings," said Casey nervously.

"Hey, if you are going to be a part of this team now it the time," said Theo as he grabbed Casey's shirt and half dragged him to the door. The ran outside and followed the screams when they could hear another noise mixed in with the screaming and when they arrived they were meet by a strange group of beings.

"What are those things?" asked Casey.

"My guess...friends of Dai Shi." said Lily.

"Let do it," said Theo.

They charged at the beings and Lily grabbed one that was attacking a woman in a car and she pulled it away freeing the woman in the car. She then turned and faced a small group of them. Theo took one another group in his usual manners knocking them back with loud cries. He knocked one down by elbowing it is the chest. Casey was knocking his own group round as best as he could while Athena took on her group. She could tell they were seriously outnumbered by these things but she fought them off kicking and punching them away. However things started to go badly for them as they had never been in a fight this intense and they began to tire and the beings took advantage of this. Casey was the first to be thrown over a car he rolled off the front of the car and hit the ground hard.

Lily was being knocked around by the group she had been fighting and she was being pushed between the beings until she feel to the ground. Theo was fairing a bit better until two of them grabbed Theo from behind and threw him into another group. He rolled on his hands to avoid getting hit or kicked and he finally reached a clear spot and stood up but another one grabbed him and threw him to the ground again.

"Time for my true form," said one of the beings. It was different from the others. This one was red and white and had a strange symbol on its head. It cried out the head disappeared into its body and the body swelled until the front split and it was green and looked similar to a praying mantis. Only his head was more humanlike with sharp spikes for hair.

"Now for some real destruction." It said as it finished its transformation.

Theo and Casey were still trying to fight off a few of the beings when Theo and Casey were both knocked back and bumped into each other when the monster jumped and landed in front of where the pair were standing.

"Look what crawled from under a rock," sneered Theo.

"Pound for pound, humans are no match for a bug," the creature said as it raised its claw and hit the ground which caused the ground between the two boys to spilt and sent then flying in different directions and they fell hard onto the ground. The monster approached the boys ready to finish them off when they heard a shout.

"Hey!"

The boys looked over and saw Lily taunting the monster while Athena moved in behind it and kicked it away from the boys. Lily and Athena attacked the monster and for a short while they held their own Suddenly Lily got a bit too close and it grabbed her and threw her over where the boys were still lying on the ground. Athena fended off the monster for a while but she did not last long on her own and the monster grabbed her left wrist and twisted it and her around before kicking her hard in the back and she flew in the air and landed almost on top of Casey.

"Ow, Sorry." She said as she rolled off Casey.

The four teens slowly made their way to their knees Theo was helping Lily and Casey held out a hand for Athena as she moved up onto her knees. She held her arm close to her body and rubbed her aching wrist.

Now to finish you little pests," it said as it walked towards them laughing.

Suddenly out of now where RJ appeared and he walking to them and stood between them and the monster.

"Whoa...dude...step back." RJ said calmly to the monster before turning slightly to look at the teens on the ground. "I think it's time for you first lesson. You can't judge a book by its cover." He pulled up his right sleeve slightly revealing the same mark that Master Mao had, the mark of the Order of the Claw.

RJ ran through a few stances of his animal spirit which Athena recognised as that of the wolf before the monster sent a group of the beings to attack him. He fought the creatures easily then drawing upon the energy of his animal spirit he formed a ball of energy which he threw at the monster. It exploded and was knocked back into its weaker form.

"I'll get you," it called as it ran away.

RJ turned to face the teens as they rose to their feet and walked towards him.

"You're him...you're our master." said Casey excitedly as they bowed to him.

"Uh um...just call me RJ. Now my students the real journey begins." He said before turning and heading back to the pizza parlour and the four teens followed him smiling and whispering to each other.

As they walked through the door they were greeted by a girl they have noticed earlier and then they noticed the restaurant was now quiet.

"Where was everyone? The door was open and people were waiting and so I ended up taking orders and making pizzas, and I took the money and put it in the cash register, and I cleaned and turned off the ovens and..."

"Fran, remember to breathe Fran." RJ interrupted.

"Oh yeah," she said.

"Fran, this is Athena, Theo, Lily and Casey. Fran is our best costumer. She's here every day." Said RJ

"Oh well It's not like I have nothing else to do. I do. I just love pizza, all the toppings and the smell and the taste. I like spaghetti as well, the sauce, the meatballs..." she continued

"Uh, Breathe Fran, we'll see you tomorrow," said RJ gently leading her to the door.

Once Fran was gone and RJ had locked the front door behind her he led the four teens through the kitchen and up the stairs into the room that was above the restaurant. There was a gym area including basketball court and nets, an area for relaxing and sleeping and for to one side there were several TV sets and a lone chair in front of them.

"Whoa, look at the size of it," remark Theo.

"Wow, this place is great, "said Casey as he picked up the basketball as he passed.

"Check it out," breathed Lily as she spotted the juke box. She went over and pressed a button and music filled the room as she started dancing.

"It's nice, but it needs a clean," said Theo running a finger over one of the TV sets.

"Thanks for volunteering Theo," said RJ jokingly.

"Mi casa es tu casa," said RJ. Athena smiled slightly. Hearing that made her feel homesick and miss her father. It had been years since she saw him last. "This is where you'll be living, training, playing and working. Everything is yours..." Lily had been looking at the TVs when RJ spotted her about to sit in the chair. "Except that chair, My chair. It's mine, off-limits, got it?

"OK," the four teens said together.

OK, next order of business is to get you out of those _pyjamas_." RJ said as he passed them each a set of clothes. Casey's were red lined with black and he had black pants to match, Theo's were blue also lined with black and Lily's were yellow lined with black and she had a black skirt. Athena's were silver in color and lined with black and a black skirt to match.

"Hey new training gear, gotta love that," said Casey shaking his out.

Lily tapped Athena on the shoulder and pointed to all the TVs in the room

"Look at all those TVs. I haven't watch TV in years."

"TVs, no these are much, much more; it's a state-of-the-art city wide monitoring system, plus 1,253 cable channels. Pretty cool, huh?" said RJ

Theo glanced at the screens when one come on showing the things from earlier that day were back in the city.

"Looks like our friends are up to no good," he remarked

"Lets get them," said Athena ready for another fight and they headed for the stairs but they stopped when they noticed RJ was not with them.

"Come on RJ," Theo called.

"Uh, no, no, I have a pizza store to run. Fighting evil is your job, but I did notice you were a little overpowered last time, so I've got a gift for you to even out the odds." He said opening a drawer to reveal what appeared to be sunglasses.

"Sunglasses?" questioned Lily

"They're not just sunglasses, they're solar morphers. You ever hear of the _Power Rangers?_

"Yeah who hasn't." said Casey

"Well guess what? You...Be...Them," RJ finished

"What? No Way" breathed Athena softly

"No way, Ever since I was a little kid, I always wanted to be..." Theo started excitedly looking between the other three than his face turned serious again. "...if that's what it takes."

"The power rangers aren't part of the Order of the Claw but I figured we needed everything we could get to fight the Dai Shi. I knew this guy who knew this other guy, who had an uncle who had a connection...anyway he tapped into the morphing grid and...Voila. Your morphers, once you activate them, all the knowledge that comes with them will be instantaneously entered into your cellular makeup. Pretty gnarly, huh?" he finished as he handed them glasses which matched the color of their new gear. "Now go out there and beat done evil, and now you will look good doing it."

The four teens rushed up the stairs and out the doors into the city where they had seen the beings. When they got there they noticed the beings had been joined by other monster.

"Oh look...Humans" it said as the approached.

"I don't know about you three but I think it's time to show them what we got," said Theo grinning.

Lily, Theo and Athena stepped forward and pulled their morphers out of the handy pocket at their hips and put them on.

"Ready! Jungle Beast Spirit Unleased!" they called together.

This call brought forth their animal spirits and when they finished Theo was dressed in blue with Six spots on his helmet lined in black and the sides of his uniform where black with white lines creating stripe like boxes on his sides and on his chest there was the mark of the Order of the Claw. Lily's uniform was yellow and black and on her helmet there was a black line down the center with three black spots either side of the line. Athena's uniform was silver lined with black and on her helmet there were two black lines and between the lines there were small black spots.

"With the speed of a cheetah, Jungle Fury, Yellow Ranger," she called.

"With the stealth of a jaguar, Jungle Fury, Blue Ranger," Theo called.

"With the agility of a leopard, Jungle Fury, Silver Ranger," Athena called.

The three rangers rushed forward as a group of Rinshi ran forward towards them.

"Oh wow, that's Awesome! "said Casey in awe. "It's my turn now."

He pulled out his morpher and copied what the others had done.

"Spirit Unleased," he called but nothing happened. He tried again but for some reason he could not morph. Athena noticed he had not morphed and called to him.

"Come on Casey, join the party!"

Casey tried again but still nothing happened. He took off the glasses and shook them, put them back on, tried again but still nothing. He looked around and saw Lily was doing well against her group of Rinshi and heard her call out.

"Call to the beast inside, Bring out the cheetah!" there was a yellow blur and most of the Rinshi she was fighting disappeared.

Athena seemed to be enjoying herself as she fought of her group of Rinshi. She kicked one back knocking three down at once and grabbed one flipping it over her shoulder. She then also called on her animal spirit. "Call to the beast inside release the leopard. There was a silver blur and the rest of her group vanished.

Casey again took off his glasses and looked them over try to figure out why he was not morphing like he had seen the others do when he heard a woman screaming he looked over to see that the others were busy with more Rinshi so he rushed over to where he had heard the scream come from. He saw the monster from earlier was terrorising Fran and was about to rush forward to help when he was grabbed by a group of Rinshi.

To Be Continued...


End file.
